South Luangwa National Park

South Luangwa National Park Map

Experts have called the South Luangwa National Park one of the greatest wildlife sanctuaries in the world, with good reason. Few parks can match this phenomenally high game density nor do they have the ability to show visitors such remarkable wildlife in so remote and isolated a wilderness. The concentration of game around the Luangwa river is among the most intense in Africa and the Luangwa River system, the park's lifeblood, is the most intact river system in Africa.

Nesting at the tail end of the Great Rift Valley, in the Luangwa Valley, the South Luangwa National Park is 9050 sq km of wild and remote bushveld.

This huge area of pristine wilderness is home to a large variety of game and birds, as well as the bigger predators. There are 60 different animal species and 400 different bird species. The only notable exception is the rhino, sadly poached to extinction.

There are many excellent lodges in this park. If you are staying at one, the guides will ensure that you see all that the valley has to offer in terms of birds, wildlife and varied vegetation and habitats. If you are in your own vehicle be sure to get a map of the park from the Crocodile farm at the entrance.

It's also the place to do some of the best walking trails in Africa. Try Robin Pope's Luangwa, Zambia Walking Holiday or Zambia Mobile Walking Safari for an in-your-face experience with the African bush at its rawest.

Plan your visit carefully: seasonal changes are very pronounced in the Luangwa Valley. The dry season begins in April and intensifies through to October, the hottest month, when game concentrations around water sources are at their height. Warm sunny days and chilly nights typify the dry winter months of May to August.

The wet season begins in November as the leaves turn green and the dry terrain becomes a lush, dense tangle of vegetation. The rainy season lasts until the end of March and migrant birds arrive in droves. Lodges in South Luangwa stay open for as long as access is possible, depending on their location.

The rains notwithstanding, the survival of the valley ultimately depends on the winding Luangwa River, crowded with hippos, crocodiles, wading birds and waterfowl. The snorting hippo is one animal you definitely won't miss. As you cross over the bridge into the park there are usually between 30 to 70 hippos lounging around in the river below. There are estimated to be at least 50 hippos per kilometre of the Luangwa River!

Birdwatching is superb in the valley. Near the end of the dry season, when the river and oxbow lagoons begin to recede, hundreds of large waterbirds can be seen wading through the shallows. Of the most beautiful are the elegant crowned cranes with their golden tufts, which congregate in large flocks at the salt pans.

If you have an interest in trees and plants, you will find the varying vegetation very rewarding. Some magnificent trees grow in the valley among which are the mopane, leadwood and winterthorn. There are also some beautiful specimens of baobab, large stands of ebony forests, tall vegetable ivory palms, marulas and magnificent tamarind trees.

For those interested in the history of the park, in 1904, a Luangwa Game Park was declared on the eastern bank of the river, but this was not maintained. Then in May 1938 three parks were defined in the valley: the North Luangwa Game Reserve; the Lukusuzi Game Reserve; and the South Luangwa Game Reserve. In 1949 Senior Chief Nsefu established a private game reserve on the Luangwa's eastern bank, between the Mwasauke and Kauluzi Rivers.

This became the Nsefu Sector, which was absorbed into the boundaries of the present park when new legislation turned all game reserves into national parks in February 1972.

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